The living archive is loading.
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
We are accustomed to being told what we lack and what we must do to obtain it. Someone says, "You are sick—let me tell you what to do to be healed." Another says, "You have no money—here's what you should do to get some." We have trained ourselves to ask, "What do I do? What do I do?" But the power lies not in doing, but in being. We are not accustomed to hearing that you already have. Yet that is precisely where the power resides.
Consider the rich man who came to Jesus and asked, "What must I do to be saved?" He was standing in the presence of the Savior himself, yet he could only think in terms of action. This reveals our fundamental limitation: we do not yet understand who we are.
In Exodus 3:11, Moses heard God's call: "I am sending you to Pharaoh." His immediate response was, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
Moses saw himself as nobody. God Almighty—the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End—looked at him and said, "I am sending you," and Moses answered, "Who am I? You must have the wrong person. Please find somebody else."
This is how we function. We are so caught up in our own inadequacy that we cannot maximize the investment God has made in our lives.
But God's response was powerful: "Certainly, I will be with you." In our case, it is not merely that God will be with us—He dwells in us. Put your hand on your chest and declare: "God is in me."
God told Moses, "When I come unto the children of Israel and say unto them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me unto you,' and they ask, 'What is his name?'—tell them, **'I AM has sent me unto you.'"
This was not a mistake or an incomplete statement. God did not say, "Tell them that Moses sent you." He said, "Tell them that I AM sent you."
Every promise of God is a weapon. But it cannot become your weapon until you accept it as your reality. It is like money deposited into your bank account. You have the ATM card. The money has been transferred with your name on it. Why are you still wondering whether it is yours? Why do you hesitate to withdraw it? It belongs to you. Put in the card and get your money.
Until you settle the question of who you are once and for all, you will always remain limited. You will sit at a table laden with every good thing, yet you ask for crumbs.
Genesis 1:26 reveals God's original intention: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion."
Why did God do this? Because He wanted to have a relationship and fellowship with man. He could not relate with us unless we were on the same level. Our relationship would not gel otherwise. So God made us in His image so that we could easily flow together.
In verse 28, God blessed them. Say it: "I am blessed." He empowered them to succeed. And God said to them, "Be fruitful. Multiply. Replenish the earth. Subdue it. Have dominion."
Anything contrary to God's decree is not acceptable. You are blessed, and because of that, you can be fruitful. You cannot be barren. Everything about you can succeed and work.
Whatever rises against you, subdue it. Put it down. God has placed in you the capacity and the ingredients to put it down. When you arrive in a place, take charge. Control the atmosphere. You are in charge. Say it: "I am in charge." Do not relinquish charge to your enemy. The devil has been dethroned and stripped of his power. You are in charge now.
It is when you see yourself as less than what God has made you that you begin to feel inadequate, not sufficient, weak. It was the fall of man that changed this. The devil lied to Eve and Adam, saying that what God said was not right. And when they listened to the devil rather than to God, they became naked, stripped of protection, stripped of armor—easy prey to the enemy.
When God came to them in Genesis 3, Adam said, "I heard your voice, but I was afraid." No more fellowship. How could he be afraid of the one who made him in His image so that he could fellowship easily?
The first death in the Bible was a sacrifice—an animal, a type of Jesus. God had to cover man. Man was trying to please God through his own effort and works. And God said, "Listen, there is nothing you can do that will please me. Your effort, your works—they are good, but they cannot please me. There must be blood."
Nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can make me whole again. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fountain I know—nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not your effort. Not your best works. God showed this from the beginning. Man was trying to say, "Let me do something so God will like me." But God said, "Look, let me do it for you."
In Adam, you do it for God. But in Christ, God does it for you. Why do we stress ourselves? Christ does it for you.
The coming of Jesus Christ has restored us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. (John 1:12)
We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:16-17)
In him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:13-14)
You are now the child of God. We have been restored back to who we are. We are blessed with the authority that God intended from the beginning—to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue the earth, and have dominion. That is where we are. We cannot go without. We cannot be stranded in life. Nothing dies in your hands.
Your defeat in life will end the day you begin to see yourself in the light of how God sees you—according to the economy of heaven.
When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, He told him, "I AM." This was not arbitrary. Moses was saying, "Who am I?" and God was answering, "Your identity is derived from I AM. There can be no you without I AM. What I AM, you are."
This changed Moses' mentality completely. In Exodus 7:1, God said to him, "I have made you a god to Pharaoh." In other words, "Don't be afraid to tell him I AM. Be bold to declare what I told you."
When Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" some said John the Baptist, some said Elijah, some said Jeremiah. But then Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?" Because that is where power is released.
Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And on this rock of revelation I will build my church—the church that understands who they are in Christ."
The power of God cannot be released through you and in you until you are able to open your mouth boldly in the face of every contradictory evidence, every challenge, every pressure and circumstance around you, and declare boldly who you are.
Jesus was always bold to proclaim who He is:
I am the resurrection and the life. I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the water of life. I am the bread of life. I am the light. Before Abraham was, I AM.
As His children, God is saying, "Do not be afraid."
Let your life be without covetousness. Be content with what you have, because He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Therefore, we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear." (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Be bold to say:
Begin to speak these things to yourself. Everything He did on your behalf, declare it boldly, whether you look like it or not. No one sees reality more than heaven sees it. Heaven sees your reality more than this earth does. That is your reality, and that is how God sees you. The way He made you is the way He sees you. He does not see you any less.
When you see yourself less than what He made you, He is waiting for you until you see yourself the way He made you. Then heaven will explode on your behalf.
When you declare "I AM," what happens? You invoke the power of now. God does not live in yesterday or tomorrow. He lives in eternal now. When you say "I AM," you invoke the nowness, the power of now, on your behalf. God's timing will begin to work on your behalf.
When you say "I AM," you invoke the power of whatever you need in life. Whatever you need is what He is. That is why He did not tie it to any particular thing. If it is a home, "I am home." If it is a spouse, "I am spouse." If it is healing, "I am healing." If it is provision, "I am provision."
When you declare what He made you, you are invoking that power to ensure that those things come to pass in your life.
Ever before the problem arrives, the answer is already there, because He is a present help in every time of need.
In John 18, when they came to arrest Jesus, they said, "Who are you looking for?" And He said, "I AM." They all fell back. When you declare I AM, the powers of hell fall on your behalf.
As Paul wrote, "I am what I am by the grace of God." (1 Corinthians 15:10) When you say "I AM," even though you do not look like it, even though you may be weak, the grace of God goes into operation on your behalf.
What you call yourself, you license yourself to become. Your name is your license. People will see you in that light. Even the devil will. If you say you are weak, you have licensed yourself to be weak. But if you say "I AM," you have licensed yourself to step into everything God has made you.
Waking up in the morning and looking at your mirror, say:
Thank you, Jesus, for another day. Thank you that I am redeemed from the curse of the law. Thank you that I am more than a conqueror. Thank you that I am saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit. Thank you because I am anointed. Thank you because the gifts of the Spirit are operating in me. I am God's powerhouse. I can never fail. I am a terror to the devil.
David understood this:
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? Though wickedness comes up against me, though my enemies come to eat my flesh, they will stumble and fall. Though a host compass around me, my heart will not fear. Though war rises up against me, I am confident. (Psalm 27)
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say, "You are my refuge and my fortress. My God, in You I put my trust." Surely He will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He will cover me with His feathers. Under His wing I put my trust. His truth is my shield and buckler. I shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor pestilence that walks in darkness, nor destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand will fall on my side, ten thousand on my right side. It will never come near me. With my eyes I will be a spectator, watching what God is doing on my behalf. (Psalm 91)
Do not ever use your mouth to speak concerning yourself what the devil says about you. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21)
God has spoken from heaven concerning you. Be bold to say it. Be bold to say it. Be bold to say it. No matter what is coming against you, be bold to say what God has declared.
When you come to church, we give you a card so that you can learn to make confession to yourself. It is not just a waste of paper. Everything being done is to equip you. It is not a ritual.
Personalize every promise God has given you. Open your mouth. Say it to yourself:
I am complete in Him. I am complete in Him. I am not deficient. I am complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. I am complete. I am not lacking anything. I am complete in Him.
Whatever God has not made you, what He did not call you—what is not supposed to be manifesting in any form or shape in your life—I declare that it ends now. It ends now.
The Scripture says, "Any plant that my Father has not planted will be uprooted." You should be stubborn and bullishly resist what God has not planted in your life.
When the Bible says, "Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee," it is giving you information that the devil is a rebel—a holder of authority who does not give up easily. We have been mandated to resist. Do not play dead and say nothing will happen. You have been told to resist, and he will flee.
What God has not planted in your life, today I command it to be uprooted. Let it be uprooted.
The wind of tragedy, misfortune, calamity from anywhere blowing in your direction—I speak to it now: Return to sender. Return to sender.
God cannot elevate you and put you in a position and then allow some people to say you will not sit there. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. Every boardroom politics, wherever it is coming from—I declare it nullified. Nullified.
The devil will not bring you down. The devil will not bring you down.
All those who are waiting for your downfall, they will wait forever. They will wait forever.
We are accustomed to being told what we lack and what we must do to obtain it. Someone says, "You are sick—let me tell you what to do to be healed." Another says, "You have no money—here's what you should do to get some." We have trained ourselves to ask, "What do I do? What do I do?" But the power lies not in doing, but in being. We are not accustomed to hearing that you already have. Yet that is precisely where the power resides.
Consider the rich man who came to Jesus and asked, "What must I do to be saved?" He was standing in the presence of the Savior himself, yet he could only think in terms of action. This reveals our fundamental limitation: we do not yet understand who we are.
In Exodus 3:11, Moses heard God's call: "I am sending you to Pharaoh." His immediate response was, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
Moses saw himself as nobody. God Almighty—the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End—looked at him and said, "I am sending you," and Moses answered, "Who am I? You must have the wrong person. Please find somebody else."
This is how we function. We are so caught up in our own inadequacy that we cannot maximize the investment God has made in our lives.
But God's response was powerful: "Certainly, I will be with you." In our case, it is not merely that God will be with us—He dwells in us. Put your hand on your chest and declare: "God is in me."
God told Moses, "When I come unto the children of Israel and say unto them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me unto you,' and they ask, 'What is his name?'—tell them, **'I AM has sent me unto you.'"
This was not a mistake or an incomplete statement. God did not say, "Tell them that Moses sent you." He said, "Tell them that I AM sent you."
Every promise of God is a weapon. But it cannot become your weapon until you accept it as your reality. It is like money deposited into your bank account. You have the ATM card. The money has been transferred with your name on it. Why are you still wondering whether it is yours? Why do you hesitate to withdraw it? It belongs to you. Put in the card and get your money.
Until you settle the question of who you are once and for all, you will always remain limited. You will sit at a table laden with every good thing, yet you ask for crumbs.
Genesis 1:26 reveals God's original intention: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion."
Why did God do this? Because He wanted to have a relationship and fellowship with man. He could not relate with us unless we were on the same level. Our relationship would not gel otherwise. So God made us in His image so that we could easily flow together.
In verse 28, God blessed them. Say it: "I am blessed." He empowered them to succeed. And God said to them, "Be fruitful. Multiply. Replenish the earth. Subdue it. Have dominion."
Anything contrary to God's decree is not acceptable. You are blessed, and because of that, you can be fruitful. You cannot be barren. Everything about you can succeed and work.
Whatever rises against you, subdue it. Put it down. God has placed in you the capacity and the ingredients to put it down. When you arrive in a place, take charge. Control the atmosphere. You are in charge. Say it: "I am in charge." Do not relinquish charge to your enemy. The devil has been dethroned and stripped of his power. You are in charge now.
It is when you see yourself as less than what God has made you that you begin to feel inadequate, not sufficient, weak. It was the fall of man that changed this. The devil lied to Eve and Adam, saying that what God said was not right. And when they listened to the devil rather than to God, they became naked, stripped of protection, stripped of armor—easy prey to the enemy.
When God came to them in Genesis 3, Adam said, "I heard your voice, but I was afraid." No more fellowship. How could he be afraid of the one who made him in His image so that he could fellowship easily?
The first death in the Bible was a sacrifice—an animal, a type of Jesus. God had to cover man. Man was trying to please God through his own effort and works. And God said, "Listen, there is nothing you can do that will please me. Your effort, your works—they are good, but they cannot please me. There must be blood."
Nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can make me whole again. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fountain I know—nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not your effort. Not your best works. God showed this from the beginning. Man was trying to say, "Let me do something so God will like me." But God said, "Look, let me do it for you."
In Adam, you do it for God. But in Christ, God does it for you. Why do we stress ourselves? Christ does it for you.
The coming of Jesus Christ has restored us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. (John 1:12)
We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:16-17)
In him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:13-14)
You are now the child of God. We have been restored back to who we are. We are blessed with the authority that God intended from the beginning—to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue the earth, and have dominion. That is where we are. We cannot go without. We cannot be stranded in life. Nothing dies in your hands.
Your defeat in life will end the day you begin to see yourself in the light of how God sees you—according to the economy of heaven.
When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, He told him, "I AM." This was not arbitrary. Moses was saying, "Who am I?" and God was answering, "Your identity is derived from I AM. There can be no you without I AM. What I AM, you are."
This changed Moses' mentality completely. In Exodus 7:1, God said to him, "I have made you a god to Pharaoh." In other words, "Don't be afraid to tell him I AM. Be bold to declare what I told you."
When Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" some said John the Baptist, some said Elijah, some said Jeremiah. But then Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?" Because that is where power is released.
Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And on this rock of revelation I will build my church—the church that understands who they are in Christ."
The power of God cannot be released through you and in you until you are able to open your mouth boldly in the face of every contradictory evidence, every challenge, every pressure and circumstance around you, and declare boldly who you are.
Jesus was always bold to proclaim who He is:
I am the resurrection and the life. I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the water of life. I am the bread of life. I am the light. Before Abraham was, I AM.
As His children, God is saying, "Do not be afraid."
Let your life be without covetousness. Be content with what you have, because He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Therefore, we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear." (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Be bold to say:
Begin to speak these things to yourself. Everything He did on your behalf, declare it boldly, whether you look like it or not. No one sees reality more than heaven sees it. Heaven sees your reality more than this earth does. That is your reality, and that is how God sees you. The way He made you is the way He sees you. He does not see you any less.
When you see yourself less than what He made you, He is waiting for you until you see yourself the way He made you. Then heaven will explode on your behalf.
When you declare "I AM," what happens? You invoke the power of now. God does not live in yesterday or tomorrow. He lives in eternal now. When you say "I AM," you invoke the nowness, the power of now, on your behalf. God's timing will begin to work on your behalf.
When you say "I AM," you invoke the power of whatever you need in life. Whatever you need is what He is. That is why He did not tie it to any particular thing. If it is a home, "I am home." If it is a spouse, "I am spouse." If it is healing, "I am healing." If it is provision, "I am provision."
When you declare what He made you, you are invoking that power to ensure that those things come to pass in your life.
Ever before the problem arrives, the answer is already there, because He is a present help in every time of need.
In John 18, when they came to arrest Jesus, they said, "Who are you looking for?" And He said, "I AM." They all fell back. When you declare I AM, the powers of hell fall on your behalf.
As Paul wrote, "I am what I am by the grace of God." (1 Corinthians 15:10) When you say "I AM," even though you do not look like it, even though you may be weak, the grace of God goes into operation on your behalf.
What you call yourself, you license yourself to become. Your name is your license. People will see you in that light. Even the devil will. If you say you are weak, you have licensed yourself to be weak. But if you say "I AM," you have licensed yourself to step into everything God has made you.
Waking up in the morning and looking at your mirror, say:
Thank you, Jesus, for another day. Thank you that I am redeemed from the curse of the law. Thank you that I am more than a conqueror. Thank you that I am saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit. Thank you because I am anointed. Thank you because the gifts of the Spirit are operating in me. I am God's powerhouse. I can never fail. I am a terror to the devil.
David understood this:
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? Though wickedness comes up against me, though my enemies come to eat my flesh, they will stumble and fall. Though a host compass around me, my heart will not fear. Though war rises up against me, I am confident. (Psalm 27)
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say, "You are my refuge and my fortress. My God, in You I put my trust." Surely He will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He will cover me with His feathers. Under His wing I put my trust. His truth is my shield and buckler. I shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor pestilence that walks in darkness, nor destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand will fall on my side, ten thousand on my right side. It will never come near me. With my eyes I will be a spectator, watching what God is doing on my behalf. (Psalm 91)
Do not ever use your mouth to speak concerning yourself what the devil says about you. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21)
God has spoken from heaven concerning you. Be bold to say it. Be bold to say it. Be bold to say it. No matter what is coming against you, be bold to say what God has declared.
When you come to church, we give you a card so that you can learn to make confession to yourself. It is not just a waste of paper. Everything being done is to equip you. It is not a ritual.
Personalize every promise God has given you. Open your mouth. Say it to yourself:
I am complete in Him. I am complete in Him. I am not deficient. I am complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. I am complete. I am not lacking anything. I am complete in Him.
Whatever God has not made you, what He did not call you—what is not supposed to be manifesting in any form or shape in your life—I declare that it ends now. It ends now.
The Scripture says, "Any plant that my Father has not planted will be uprooted." You should be stubborn and bullishly resist what God has not planted in your life.
When the Bible says, "Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee," it is giving you information that the devil is a rebel—a holder of authority who does not give up easily. We have been mandated to resist. Do not play dead and say nothing will happen. You have been told to resist, and he will flee.
What God has not planted in your life, today I command it to be uprooted. Let it be uprooted.
The wind of tragedy, misfortune, calamity from anywhere blowing in your direction—I speak to it now: Return to sender. Return to sender.
God cannot elevate you and put you in a position and then allow some people to say you will not sit there. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. Every boardroom politics, wherever it is coming from—I declare it nullified. Nullified.
The devil will not bring you down. The devil will not bring you down.
All those who are waiting for your downfall, they will wait forever. They will wait forever.
